Missing
by sellthelie
Summary: Elle/Gabriel: Peter with some assistance shows Gabriel just what he'd be missing.


**Missing**

_Elle/Gabriel: Peter with some assistance shows Gabriel just what he'd be missing._

* * *

His eyes open slowly, the lids heavy, not wanting to open. He attempts to lift his arm but it's a dead weight, it's then that he feels it. Moving through his blood, slowing every move he made.

He's been drugged. Again.

It took several minutes for the fog to clear. The shadows moving around in front of him solidifying into people, and the sounds becoming voices. They came closer to him as they realised he was awake, pulling on the binds that kept his limbs tied to the bed.

A face came into his view, familiar, but he couldn't place a name.

"Do you know what to do?" He could recognise that voice, would know it anywhere, no matter how many drugs were pumping through his veins.

"I have an idea," the stranger said.

"Well you better do it fast, before he wakes up completely."

"Peter," he muttered, his name rough. "What are you doing?"

There was a shuffling, and then his _brother_ was leaning over him. "Helping you."

"Doesn't feel like it."

Peter looks over his shoulder at his companion before looking down at him, "Trust me."

He curled his hand into a fist, unable to act on the urge to hit the look off his face. He could feel more control come his way, the drugs lessening their hold. The stranger seemed to realise this, because he came at him with another needle in his hand. "No."

"We have to..."

"DON'T!" His voice came out with a croak, lacking any force. He tried to move his arm but the restraints were holding it tight, the needle was inching into his skin, and the heady feeling started to pump through his veins once more. He could see them move closer when he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore.

* * *

Sometime later he feels things again. He can move his fingers; he lifts his hand to rub his face. His eyes open easily, and he knows he's not where he was earlier.

It's a house, a home. He's spread out on a couch, a small throw rug laid out over his lap. Sitting up slowly he looks around the house, seeing something familiar. He knows this house. It looks different when you aren't chasing your niece through it intent on taking her ability. There are toys littered all over the floor. Toy cars placed over a racing mat, children books haphazardly on the shelf, he can hear a cartoon playing on a distant television.

He navigates through the toys, making his way into the other room. _Elle_. She has her back to him, but he knows it's her instantly. She's laughing loudly as she leans down and pulls up a small child, placing him on the bench beside her. Leaning forward to whisper in his ear, the boy nods eagerly. She grabs a bowl from the cupboard, leaving it in front of the child.

"So what do you think honey, chocolate, or vanilla?" She asks as she continues to pull ingredients from the pantry.

The boy concentrates hard for several moments, before smiling up at her, "Chocolate!"

"Good choice," Elle smiles. She kisses the top of his head as she goes to the fridge. "That's my favourite."

"Mine too," he moves around till he's facing her.

Gabriel moves closer as they continue, he's beginning to wonder if they can even see him. They've taken no notice of his entrance. It's like he's not even there. He runs his hand along the furniture, feeling the ripples in the wood on his fingertips. It's real, he's there.

Elle shuts the fridge, putting a carton of milk on the bench. Her eyes widen as she sees him. "What are you doing?"

"I was just..."

The boy interrupts him, "It's a surprise Daddy!" _Daddy_? "You aren't allowed to see."

"Yeah, _Daddy_," Elle grins at him as she comes around the island to him. "You're supposed to stay in the den. Don't want to ruin the surprise now do you?"

Her eyes seem to sparkle as she smiles up at him. He finds himself smiling back at her, then back to _his son_. "Of course not, I'll..." Gabriel moves back, wanting to step closer and look at this _boy_. He looks so much like her; obviously he's her son as much as he is his.

"Get going then," Elle laughs, hitting his hip lightly with a wink as she turns from him. "We'll call you when they're ready."

He walks slowly, keeping an eye on them as they talk in quiet voices, measuring out cups of flour. The boy wipes the flour he got on his hand on her shirt, laughing loudly as she tickles him. There are photos on the mantle; Gabriel stops to look at them. It's them, with their boy at different ages. A toothy grin, all dressed up in a Spiderman costume for Halloween. One of him with Peter, he can see the White House in the distance behind the smiling pair, the boy resting on his shoulders. Sleeping on the same lounge from before, but with a baby tucked into his arms.

This is his family. He isn't sure what kind of trick Peter is pulling - it's too real to be a dream. You can't smell the crackling fire, or still feel her hand on your hip when you're dreaming. He steps back into the small room he was in earlier, deciding to investigate further, but it's a hallway now. With nurses bustling past him, he's in a hospital.

Opening the door he goes to step back into the house, but it's now a small room, with a solitary bed by a window. There's a curtain shielding most of it from his eyes, Gabriel walks forward slowly. He pulls the curtain back, exhaling as Elle snores softly in the bed. Stepping forward quickly he runs a hand over her forehead. She's not hot, nor is she sweaty. Other than looking completely drained, she looks like she isn't sick at all.

Looking around the small room he spots the pink balloons floating gently in the corner, spelling out the word_ Congratulations_! He picks a card off the table, reading the inscription that's addressed to him, and Elle. Gabriel's never heard of anyone called Patrick, but he knows who Gabriel is. There's some flowers as well, bright full blooms in a large vase.

"What the hell is going on," he mutters to himself. Crossing the room he looks out onto a large garden, sunlight pouring over it. He's never experienced anything like this, doors leading to places that they shouldn't. Rooms that shouldn't be there, it doesn't make any sense. Turning around quickly he spots a plastic cup on the table beside the bed, raising his hand he brings it to him instantly.

"Haven't seen you do that for a while." Gabriel jumps at the sleepy voice, dropping the cup to the floor. "Don't worry I won't tell on you."

She pulls herself up, wincing slightly. He moves over to the bed, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing - it's just going to take a few weeks for everything to get back to normal. Where's Noah?" Elle looks around the room.

"Noah?"

"Did he go with Pete to look at her? He is in love with that little girl already," she smiled, reaching out and taking his hand. "It's so precious."

"Our son," Gabriel says to himself, the boy from the house. "You had a baby?"

"Are you okay?" She presses her hand to his forehead, her other hand slips down his wrist. "Your heart's racing, what's going on?"

"Just excited," he says quickly, squeezing her hand watching her smile. "Not every day you have a baby."

"Believe me," Elle whispers. "It's not going to happen again any day soon." She moved over on the bed, patting the space beside her. Gabriel slides up next to her, letting her put his arm around her shoulder as she folds herself into his side. "She's beautiful," she murmurs into his chest. "With her daddy's hair..."

He smiles as she starts to babble herself to sleep, describing all the amazing things about the small baby with blue eyes as bright as the sea. Before too long her gentle snores fill his ear. Gabriel wants to wrap his other arm around her, and lay there beside her for as long as he can. He can't remember the last time he felt this peaceful.

The door is there though, tormenting him with all that could be behind it. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he rolls her softly onto her other side.

He looks back at her one last time before he opens the door. Before he can talk himself out of it, he steps through, and shuts it behind him.

"Get down!"

Someone threw themselves at him, just as a stream of bullets fly over their heads. They pulled on his hand to bring him to his feet.

"Come on!" She yells, tugging on his arm to get him to move. "We don't have much time, where the hell where you?"

"I was..."

"It doesn't matter," Elle exclaims, racing down the hall. Gabriel follows her, recognising the Laboratories' of Pinehearst. "Suresh says we have to set it off in a few minutes, we have to get out of here."

"A bomb?"

She glances over her shoulder at him, "Yeah?"

"What the hell are we doing?"

Elle spares him another curious glance, she holds up a hand to stop him as she peers around a corner. "I saw Flint go this way earlier, he's got all these fucking booby traps everywhere. Arthur's pet bulldog," she spat bitterly.

"What's going on Elle?"

"We're ending it, once and for all. Sending all of Petrelli's precious research to hell," she said smugly, grinning from ear to ear. "Which is why we have to run," she grabbed his hand again and darted down the hallway.

Gabriel could hear someone yelling after them, as they raced down a set of stairs. "The building's going to blow up?"

She laughed as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "Going to be fucking huge. We can't risk anything surviving."

"What about my father?"

Elle turns to him, "The father who willingly sacrificed you to Bennet? You can't feel any obligation to him Gabriel. Not after all that he's done."

"He what?"

"Come on," she pulled him around a corner as a security guard ran up the stairs they'd just come down. "What the hell is wrong with you? You were all gung ho about this earlier - you haven't got cold feet have you?"

"He's going to die Elle - we're going to kill him."

She shook her head as they ran to the end of the corridor, "I don't think he's here. He'd be putting up more of a fight. The best we can hope for is to get rid of all the stuff he had Suresh working on; we'll worry about the rest later."

"If he's here..."

"Gabriel! Why are you fighting this?" Elle snapped, turning on him. "Has the Haitian been fiddling with your memories?! He wanted you to kill me, to kill our baby! How can you have forgotten this?! If he dies today then I say good riddance. We can live our lives as we want, instead of looking over our shoulder and fighting him every step of the way." There were tears falling from her eyes as she shouted, which she swiped at furiously. "He's a monster."

A door opened down the hall, an unfamiliar man sticking his head inside. "Come on!"

"We have to go," Elle said, looking down at the small device she hadn't let go of. "It's going to go off regardless of where he is Gabriel. I'm not going to bring my child into a world where he has all of this at his disposal. I hope you are outside with us when it all goes to hell."

She looked at him sadly before she started to run down to the door at the end, looking back at him once before the door banged behind her. He didn't know his father well enough to trust him, but Elle she was his family. She was going to be his family, he had to follow her. So he started to run down the hallway, knowing what would happen as soon as he stepped through that door. It was better than the thought of what might be if he remained in here when she set off the bomb with that detonator.

Gabriel slows as he finds himself in a little balcony. He can hear the cars from the street down below. She's standing at the railing, peering down to them. Her long hair blowing in the breeze, she turns to him as he steps closer to her. Elle wraps her arms around his waist, burying her head into his shirt. His arms fold around her automatically, a sigh swallowed by his clothing as she steps as close to him as she can.

She's older now; her face is fuller, she feels soft in his arms. As small as ever, but she's still the same woman from the very first time he saw her.

"What are they doing?" Elle asks quietly, turning her face up to him.

"I'm not sure," he says slowly, not sure who she is referring to.

She smiles up at him, "Oh you're good!" Holding onto his hand she pulls him through the open door into an apartment.

The boy, _Noah_, and a young girl are lying in front of the television. Their eyes glued to a cartoon cat, Elle moves over to the couch. Pulling him down beside her, she lays herself over it, resting her head on his lap. Her eyes close as he smooths her hair away from her face, a lazy smile playing on her lips.

Gabriel turns his attention to the pair on the floor. Noah can't be much older than eight now, his hair is lighter than it was before. With his long legs spread out behind him he can tell that he's a tall boy. The girl who he's never seen before turns to him with a smirk that's identical to the one he's seen her mother wear before is still very much a little girl; he can see the padding in her pants of the nappy. She's got his dark hair and her mother's eyes.

He looks around the small room, realising it's a motel suite. It lacked the feeling that the other house had held, it held no connection to the people inside. Gabriel then noticed the large ears lying on the floor beside his daughter.

Smiling down at Elle, "So, Disneyland?"

"Crazy," she whispered, grinning up at him. "Never again, at least not for a few years."

"They loved it though..."

"Of course," she rolled over, her eyes closing. Moving her head to the cushion, Gabriel moved himself off the small couch. He walked over to the only door in the room, looking back at the children before he opened it.

"Where are you going Daddy?"

They were looking up at him, eyes wide. "I'm just going in here for a minute, I'll be right back."

"Do you promise?"

He smiled at the boy, "I'll be right back."

A loud noise drew their attention back to the television, he slipped through the door. He was back in the Bennet's house, it was different now. There was a Christmas tree lit up in the corner, presents stacked all around it. The two children from before were examining them all, they were older than they were before.

"Mum!" The girl yelled out, glaring at her brother. "I want to open my presents!"

"I just need to find the blasted batteries," the exasperated reply came from another room.

"Give her a break guys," Gabriel stared as his elder self walked into the room, a smaller child in his arms. "They aren't going anywhere."

"We don't need pictures," Noah grumbled, staring at the presents.

"Just hang on," the other Gabriel said to them. He sat down on the edge of the couch closest to the fire, bouncing the child on his knee.

This isn't like it was before. He'd always been involved in the _moments_, now it seemed as if he was strictly here to observe. Gabriel moved closer to his other self. He continued to smile down at his children, talking softly to the youngest in his lap. It couldn't have been any older than six month, grabbing fistfuls of his jumper. Grey hairs were sprinkled over his head, lines around his eyes. It was him, but it wasn't.

It was him that he could be.

"Weird isn't it?" Someone said into his ear, Gabriel turned to find Peter behind him. "They can't see us."

"Obviously," he muttered. "What the hell is going on?"

"This is your future, or one of them."

"What do you mean _one of them_? This isn't going to happen?" He shook his head as Elle came into the room, smiling as she held up a camera.

"Well that depends..."

"Depends on what?"

Peter took his elbow, pulling him away from the family huddled in front of the tree. "If you want this, all that you saw, everything could be yours." They left the room, stopping in the room he'd woken up in earlier. "This is just one version of a possible future."

"Then why the hell did you show me this?"

"You made the wrong choice; you screwed all of this up. This isn't your future anymore, it was going to be. It was going to be Elle, and you, with Noah. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, but you were happy. In this house making waffles like a normal family would."

"Then what happened?"

"You kill her."

"Kill who?"

"Elle."

"No... I wouldn't, we are getting along. It's not perfect, but I don't want to kill her..."

"You listened to Bennet, you believed him when he wanted to screw with you both," Peter said, placing his hands on his hips. "You know exactly how he feels about you, and you let him get to you. Now this isn't yours, I've seen the future you have now, and it's not good."

Gabriel moved over to Peter, "Then what was the point of this? A nice little mind fuck for the brother you don't want?!"

"No, it was to show you want you _can _have. It's not too late."

"It isn't?"

"No," he smiled. "If you want it, all of this will be yours. You're going to wake up in about twenty seconds, if you want it, you'll have to do what I tell you to do."

"I get this future, with them?"

Peter nodded, as his knees buckled. He grabbed onto his shoulders, "I'll be there, and we'll figure it out."

"I don't want to hurt her, I..."

"I know, we're going to fix it," he insisted, holding him up.

"Good," Gabriel muttered to himself as he fell onto him.

* * *

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Peter. Hovering over him once more, only this time his hands were free of the restraints. He moved away as Gabriel sat up, they were alone in the room.

"Where's your friend?"

"Matt? He's sleeping down in one of the rooms," he said quickly, his hands moving constantly. He was nervous. "Did it work?"

Gabriel looked up at him slowly, nodding.

Peter sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Excellent. Do you want it?"

"I want that," he pulled himself out of the bed, licking his dry lips.

"Then let's fix it."  


* * *

END.


End file.
